An Open Letter to the Forum - Re: Bruce Dorskin (suspended)

[barrysloate]

Greg- somewhere in this long convoluted thread Bruce wished for Adam's demise. Please don't ask me to find it, but it's there. I find this kind of dialogue unacceptable, regardless of what provoked it. I've told this to Bruce by email but he just emails me back with the same horrid language. I give up. I would make greater headway banging my head against a brick wall.

[Steve D]

In a way, I feel sorry for Bruce. He could be so helpful to everyone if he'd just share some of his knowledge of cards. I mean heck, he was acknowledged by Lew Lipset in Volume 1 of Lew's Encyclopedia of Baseball Cards, for his contributions to it. How many other contributions has he made like that?

After seeing Bruce's post in the "What do you do?" thread, where he says the focus of his company is Corporate "Mergers and Acquisitions", I think back to Richard Gere's character in Pretty Woman, and his description of what he would normally do in one of his deals.....he's basically a cutthroat manipulator with blood in his eyes.

Unfortunately for Bruce, he just seems to not know when to turn it off. He doesn't know where the job ends and the hobby begins.

Very sad.

Steve

[Ladder7]

Perhaps we're taking his words out of context... Brucey may be Muslim and is simply not wanting Adam to miss out on his seventy two virgins... Before they're all gone.

[Rob D.]

In all fairness, Leon, I'm not sure it's right to leave this thread open and allow people to continually comment and take shots at Bruce when he's in a position in which he can't respond. He's been banned/suspended, so what purpose does more commentary serve?

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by Rob D.

In all fairness, Leon, I'm not sure it's right to leave this thread open and allow people to continually comment and take shots at Bruce when he's in a position in which he can't respond. He's been banned/suspended, so what purpose does more commentary serve?

Don't worry Rob. Bruce is taking notes and closing deals as we speak.

[Leon]

I just had this exact conversation with a board member in a phone conversation. I/we will not let anyone continue bashing Brucii as it's not fair and not the right thing to do since he can't respond. Consider this fair warning that if you do so your post will be edited or removed. Nothing pesonal but it's just not right and it's not fair. best regards

btw, I hate to lock threads when others might have something to say about the situation...other than saying anything bad, or attacking Brucii I don't see the harm in leaving it open.....again, please refrain from attacking Brucii at least until which time he can defend himself....

[Fred]

From post # 10 of this thread - by Barry:

"Bruce has a beautiful collection, I've seen it many times. But he is unable to get along with the people on this board. I've tried countless times to get him to tone it down, to stop sending death threats, to stop talking down to everyone, even to make a tiny concession and stop using "we." But so far I've failed miserably."

Let' ban Barry for failing so miserably!!!

[mdschulze]

with my siblings. Push the other's buttons long enough until they snap and then watch them get in trouble for reacting!

Since I'm fairly new to the Board I don't know of the history here with Bruce. From what I've read, I haven't seen anyone step forward and say that Bruce has actually inflicted any physical harm on anyone, nor has anyone been the recipient of a contracted hit intiated by Bruce. What I have seen is basically some name calling and childish threats thrown around... similar to what you'd expect to find on a grade school playground. Are any one of you really in fear of bodily harm being administered to you by Bruce? If so, then maybe you should contact the police and let them handle it.

I recently contacted Bruce with a few questions on T206s. I explained to him that I was new to the hobby, had limited funds to purchase cards, and that I was buying raw instead of graded. Bruce responded within 30 minutes and never once condemned me to Hell for being an inferior collector. He was very informative, did not brag on his collection, and gave me a ton of info. If Bruce was truly a bad individual, I don't think he would have taken the time to respond the way he did.

Can't we all just get along???

[bluebirds]

The Mods have it all wrong!! Just threaten to suspend Bruce(s) permanently if he ever refers to himself in the plural. That's REAL torture!

[wonkaticket]

Originally Posted by mdschulze

Can't we all just get along???

Sure sounds like a gem of an idea…and a big step to getting along with folks is don’t threaten to sue them. Also calling them morons and talking down to them with an elitists attitude tends not to help let alone wishing their deaths...

Just a thought while we all get along..

[barrysloate]

Mike-It's not like Bruce is being sent to Alcatraz. He is simply suspended from posting for a month- he can still read the board- and then he can come back if he wants, providing he does so with a little civility. That's not really so bad, is it?

And in answer to your question, nobody on this board has physically hit anybody, I don't think. Everything that has transpired has been in cyberspace. Bruce is knowledgeable and I am glad he was helpful to you. He can at times be very nice.

But since you are new to the board not everything coming from his keyboard has been peaches and cream. At times it has gotten pretty ugly around here. So I think a month away from the board is more than reasonable.

[mdschulze]

Barry, let me first say that I really like reading your posts... you seem very knowledgeable and you always carry yourself in a respectful manner. Top-Notch!!

I agree that guidelines should be followed on a forum such as this... I just wanted to share my one time experience with Bruce and how he graciously took the time to provide me with more info than I initially tried to obtain. I can assure you that his correspondence with me was not like what you see on some of his posts here.

I glanced back at the recent thread by Bruce: "Net 54 Top 100" and it seemed that there were a few members eager to start pushing buttons. There's obviously some history here between a few members and Bruce. My question is: since some of these members know what kind of reaction they can expect from Bruce, then why post anything at all that may set him off? Additionally, did Bruce just randomly pick people to start sending threatening emails to? I would guess that one or some stepped on his toes in the past(maybe in good humor) that started this whole ordeal... still doesn't excuse threatening emails though!

Bruce obviously has a unique personality but I don't think too different than what we encounter in real life (at work, at the store, on the road, etc.) I would like to think some members, including Bruce, would handle situations like these differently in real life instead of how they tend to get handled on cyberspace forums. May just be for attention, shock value, who knows!

You are correct, 30 day suspension isn't the end of the world!

FYI... I'm not here trying to defend or point fingers, just here to rationalize!

[barrysloate]

Mike- thanks for the kind words.

And you are correct that there is a history here. I won't go into it in deference to Leon's request, but this has been going on for a long time.